HOW REMARQUE PRESENTS THE READER WITH THE BRUTALITY OF WAR IN HIS NOVEL "ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT"
HOW REMARQUE PRESENTS THE READER WITH THE BRUTALITY OF WAR IN HIS NOVEL "ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT"
In his novel "All Quiet On The Western Front"- first published in German as Im Westen nichts Neues in January 1929 - German Author Erich Maria Remarque purposefully destroys the nationalistic ideas readers at the time would have had about the war. He claims in his epigraph - "This book is intended neither as an accusation nor as a confession, but simply as an attempt to give an account of a generation that was destroyed by the war - even those who survived the shelling." He presents the brutality of the First World War, in which he took part, through vivid descriptions of trench warfare and the changes it makes to the minds of the group of young German soldiers he concentrates on. The novel centres around the experiences of narrator Paul Bäumer and his company, as one by one they lose the lives which were already ruined by war.
Remarque also comments in the epigraph that his novel is intended for a 'generation' of men who, even though they escaped the shells, were destroyed by war. The generation he writes about is Germany's youth, pushed into the war by their nationalistic elders who have never fought in a war. In the novel, this theme is shown through Paul and his classmate's teacher Kantorek.
"There were thousands of Kantorek's, all of them convinced that they were acting for the best, in the way that was most comfortable from themselves. But as far as I'm concerned, that was the very root of moral bankruptcy. They were supposed to be the ones who would help us... but the first dead man I saw shattered this conviction"
Paul describes how the men have matured quickly under the pressures of their situation. This made them lose respect civilians they previously held in high regard, and so feel extremely bitter towards them.
"We were forced to recognise that our generation was more honourable than theirs - they only had advantage in phrase-making and cleverness. Our first experience of heavy artillery fire showed us our mistake, and the view of life that their teaching had given us fell to pieces under that bombardment"
Physically, the soldiers are in constant danger of being shot and bombed; the ...
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Paul describes how the men have matured quickly under the pressures of their situation. This made them lose respect civilians they previously held in high regard, and so feel extremely bitter towards them.
"We were forced to recognise that our generation was more honourable than theirs - they only had advantage in phrase-making and cleverness. Our first experience of heavy artillery fire showed us our mistake, and the view of life that their teaching had given us fell to pieces under that bombardment"
Physically, the soldiers are in constant danger of being shot and bombed; the never-ending attacks and counter-attacks destroy their nerves. They live in endless fear and in atrocious conditions: rat-infested trenches, alongside rotting corpses, having no food or water for days on end. Death and suffering is a regular occurrence.
"Muller recons that he got one right through the thigh, a decent blighty wound"
The soldiers looked at this severe injury in this way because they had become accustomed to these things; they believed the solider had 'gotten off lightly'
The first time the reader is introduced to Paul's company at the front they are not even fighting but repairing barbed wire. They get caught up in a bombardment which is vividly described.
"...at that very moment we hear a whistling noise behind us, it gets louder, there is a crash and then a roar. We've ducked down - a hundred yards in front of us a wall of flames shoots up. The next moment part of the wood is lifted up above the treetops. When the second shell hits, three or four trees go up with it and are smashed to pieces in the process. The follow-up shells are already hissing down with a sound like a safety valve" Through this example, Remarque develops the ideas of the horrors of the front in the thoughts of Paul's mind while under fire. Structure and word choice show the men's terror and confusion, he regularly uses onomatopoeia to describe the sounds of the shells and the destruction they cause.
It is ironic that the writer uses the simile "like a safety valve" to describe a shell which could potently kill them.
In chapter six, Paul mourns that words cannot do the war justice or the anguish he and his "comrade's" have had to endure. "Bombardment, barrage, curtain fire, mines, gas, tanks, machine-guns, hand-grenades - words, words, words, but they embrace all the horrors of the world."
By writing in list form, this illustrates how Paul thinks of everything involved in modern trench warfare. Paul is absorbed in his own verbal thoughts, and unable to escape them.
When he later kills a French solider and has to remain in the shell hole alongside him Paul experiences the intense guilt of taking a life. "Earlier on you were just an idea to me, a concept in my mind that called up an automatic response - it was that concept that I stabbed. It is only now that I can see you as a human being like me. I thought about your hand-grenades, your bayonet and your weapons; now I see your wife and your face and what we have in common. Forgive me, camerade?" It is significant that Paul calls the French solider "camerade"; he empathises with him as a soldier and suddenly realises how barbaric it is that they kill these unknown men with whom they have nothing against. This incident is a clear example of the brutality of modern combat.
In this shocking form of trench warfare, the incident in no-man's land, in a sense, is a rare occurrence, allowing Paul to think of the horrors happening around him. The soldiers are desensitised; their way of coping with the situation is often to make jokes about it "You'll be lucky if you get a coffin at all" grins Tjaden "they'll just use a tarpaulin to wrap up that target practice dummy you call a body, you wait and see" Other men make jokes too, uncomfortable jokes, but what else can we do?"
Remarque, by choosing the word "grins" to describe the way Tjaden spoke, shows his tone was light-hearted but by also by using the word "uncomfortable" expresses the idea that in the back of the men's mind they know they could die at any time.
This desensitisation is also shown very early on by Paul's reaction when one of his close friends dies. "I breathe as deeply as I can, and feel the air warmer and softer than ever before in my face. Images of girls, fields of flowers, of white clouds all pass rapidly through my mind. My feet move onwards in my boots. I am going faster, I'm running" The tone in this description of Paul leaving the hospital is unexpectedly excited, showing that he can't dwell on grief for his friend or he would go mad. The reference to his feet and running could possibly be linked to his friend's amputated leg.
From the opening of the novel where a number of Paul's company have died, to the ending - the death of Paul Bäumer; narrator and protagonist of the novel - Remarque presents his readers with a shocking "account of a generation that was destroyed by war" which annihilates any romantic ideals of war the reader may have had. He achieves this using graphic description of trench warfare which evokes barbaric images within the mind. He also convincingly explores the effects of war on the young soldier's minds.
